None of them is, “What does it mean?”
Continue reading “Three Questions to Ask When You Finish a Novel”Who’s Responsible?
If you’re a leader, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin’s book Extreme Ownership has the answer.
Continue reading “Who’s Responsible?”You Know It’s True…But Do You Act On It?
This book’s secret is so simple, you might ignore it.
Continue reading “You Know It’s True…But Do You Act On It?”Don’t Know What To Do Next? Love Your Neighbor
Perman, Matt. What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done, 2014.
In What’s Best Next?, Matt Perman combines a comprehensive knowledge of the best self-development and personal productivity books in the field with a commitment to glorifying God and enjoying him forever. When someone says they would like to see a secular topic examined “from a Christian worldview”, they are imagining a book like this one. Perman worked for John Piper’s Desiring God organization for over a decade and describes the book as working out the horizontal dimension of Christian hedonism, Piper’s name for the teaching that, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Accordingly, personal productivity allows us to extend that satisfaction in God to those around us so that His glory is most fully known.
Continue reading “Don’t Know What To Do Next? Love Your Neighbor”ENGL 1003 Syllabus Overview
What Does It Take To Change?
Ten Commandments for Writers
- Love words…
- …but love people more.
- Use words wisely.
- Write every day.
- Find models.
- Encourage more than you criticize.
- Be consistent (but if you’ve changed your mind, say so).
- Give credit.
- Engage with others respectfully.
- Find your voice.
When We Don’t Know How To Pray
Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8:26
- There are many things we know we should pray for: forgiveness, strength to overcome temptation, and the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.
- We don’t know everything we should pray for in every situation: healing or endurance during illness, that an application for a job be accepted or mercifully declined, or that we seek advisable risk or maintain security.
- In that uncertainty, we continue praying and rely on God. He knows what we don’t.
Keynote Address: Imagining Conversion
A Review of A Memoir about an English Prof’s Conversion
Butterfield, Rosaria Champagne. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, 2012.
Formerly a Syracuse University tenured-professor of English and queer feminist activist, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield tells the story of her tumultuous conversion to Christianity and her sanctification as the wife of a minister and mother to adopted children of different races. As churches debate how to respond to both their LGBTQ neighbors and proponents inside the church, Butterfield has found herself a poster woman for Christians who believe scripture condemns the expression of same-sex desire. In this book, Butterfield does not rehearse that debate’s typical discussion points. She doesn’t discuss the origins of her same-sex desire (i.e. whether or not she was “born this way”), approve or condemn conversion therapy, or give her views on the various political issues surrounding gay marriage. Butterfield doesn’t even recount her childhood or give many details about the lesbian relationship she was in when she came to Christ. The book’s title is important. Butterfield hasn’t written The Secret Story of an Unlikely Convert. Neither, I presume, would her thoughts about a variety of political and cultural issues be “secret” since that’s what everyone would expect her to write about. Instead, she’s provided a testimony that is, at minimum, sixty percent about the difficult sanctification process that follows conversion. I recommend this book as a great starting place to consider with prayer and humility what it is we’re actually praying for when we ask God to save those who do not know Him.
Continue reading “A Review of A Memoir about an English Prof’s Conversion”